‘Batman Returns’ is one of the darkest, most twisted movies set during the holidays: here’s why you should watch it at Christmas
Tim Burton’s second take at the Caped Crusader passed by as an underappreciated gothic follow-up to its predecessor. Now, it’s a cult classic and remains one of the most praised Batman films--a Christmas movie? Connor Murphy Reviews.
It’s an annual tradition to bring on the holidays with a Christmas movie.
In a long recurring debate, some argue that there is no better selection in Christmas movies than one that tells the story of one man’s struggle to bring his family together on Christmas Eve. The holiday spirit is embodied through his struggle and ultimate triumph when he is reunited with his loving wife where they rekindle their fading marriage. As they drive off bound for home and their children come Christmas morning, they leave behind their night at the Nakatomi Plaza and the band of Russian Terrorists.
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Many have come to think of it as so, so now what are the consequences? How many more movies are now thrown into debate over their yuletide inclusions or exposure? I present one for the crowd in Batman Returns. Let us take a walk down the snowy alleyways of Gotham City to determine whether or not Tim Burton’s second take at the Caped Crusader is one worth revisiting in the (bat)light of Christmas.
Returns was a product of the enormous success the previous Batman movie had brought in; a sum close to almost half a billion dollars at the global box office in 1989. The movie had Batman (Keaton) face off against the Joker (Nicholson) in the style of a high-calibre action superhero flick that had never been accomplished before. However, having wrapped on Batman (1989), Burton initially had no interest in returning for a sequel. "I wanted to do Edward Scissorhands before that [Returns]" he shared in a commentary.
"The last thing you want to do after you finish a movie is to go back and do it again", but "After [Edward Scissorhands], I started thinking about characters... [and] felt like there were things in there that I liked and loved and was interested in”. Burton would return to the director’s chair for Returns when, as writer Sam Hamm phrased it, Warner Bros. suggested that “the second movie were more of a Tim Burton movie... that really got his [Burton’s] attention”.
Batman Returns supports an entourage of characters, from both its comic book source and the creative mind of Tim Burton, whose work has been nominated numerous times for Academy Awards. You may know him for his eccentric gothic style in Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990) or Corpse Bride (2005) to name a few of his works. Returning to the role of Batman, Michael Keaton plays the titled Caped Crusader by night and the introverted billionaire Bruce Wayne by day. Keaton previously collaborated with Burton in Beetlejuice
and Batman (1989), where he too then starred as the title character in both projects. The film also co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer as the stitched latex-laden Catwoman. Prior to her role as Catwoman, Pfeiffer had starred in the widely acclaimed Scarface (1983). Danny Devito, who would go on to play a part in the long-running It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005 -), dons the top hat and webbed appendages to realise the Penguin. Supporting the leading trio, Christopher Walken, who appeared in Pulp Fiction (1994), portrays the corrupt ‘scrooge’ of Returns in Max Schreck. Michael Gough also features as the butler Alfred Pennyworth in the film, where he did too in the few other Batman films of the late eighties through the nineties
Christmas is in full swing for the people of Gotham City... which for the sewer dwellingPenguin, is a perfect time to spring out of the shadows and take the stage as his band of goons terrorize the streets. Teaming up alongside the city’s kingpin Max Schreck to take over Gotham City, both Penguin and Schreck struggle to bring down the only obstacle in their way: Batman. During all of this, Selina Kyle, Schreck’s secretary, is thrown into the mix when an attempt on her life transforms her into the viciously cunning Catwoman. Tricked into framing the Batman alongside Penguin and Schreck, she too tries to destroy Batman. But unexpectedly, romance sparks between them when she decides to confront the dark knight of Gotham.
With this new direction which promised much more creative freedom, Burton remarked that he wanted a “different take on the material without changing the tone of it too much... we wanted it to still be Batman... but with a slightly different style or angle”. Some of the "new elements we added in there to make it feel fresh" included the saturation of snow throughout the Burbank studio sets, which had the crew "cool[ing] down the set to about 30 degrees [Fahrenheit]” for not only snow but for the penguins - “the real penguins that we used in the film". Where Returns was not only more technically involved than its predecessor, it is also arguably much darker in tone, cannibalism and a handful of sexual innuendos to name a few of the inclusions that make it so, proving to be the film’s downfall when it was released in the summer of 1992.
Despite being a box-office success, the film was the subject of controversy due to its apparent child-friendly marketing which was in part due to the film’s partnership with McDonald’s marketing and toy distribution. This would result in Warner Bros. receiving thousands of complaint letters from parents regarding the film’s sexual and violent content, and ultimately hurt Burton’s odds of returning to for a third Batman project, instead prompting Warner Bros. to hire Joel Schumacher to helm the infamous Batman Forever (1995) and Batman & Robin (1997). However, in the film’s twilight years, a cult following has embraced all that is Batman Returns, where it since has gained a kind of reappraisal for all its quirks and oddities... many going as far as to label it a Christmas movie, an alternate one at least.
“It did have a darkness and a complexity and a resonance that I think the audiences at the time didn’t expect... it wasn’t just a cool, fun comic book movie” - Denise Di Novi, Producer
So, in this newfound appreciation of this snow-laden take on the dark knight, should we recognise its attributes and features which recall the Christmas movie? As we’ve already touched on, snow lends itself to the very connotation of a traditional Christmas, as do Christmas trees, tinsel, stockings, a roaring fireplace, and presents – all of which are aplenty in Returns. Yule finds its way into the script and the interaction between characters, with Max Schreck being referred to as “Gotham’s own Santa Claus”, before passing out gifts from a sack of presents. “Merry Christmas” is even the final dialogue exchange between Bruce Wayne and Alfred in the film's closing moments. One could even argue that Danny Elfman’s score of Batman Returns possesses a kind of dramatic magnitude in its tone, like that of the operatic “Carol of the Bells”, with the gentle inclusion of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” or “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” as reminders perhaps of the festive season. But alas, an argument can be made that the story possesses no sole Christmas spirit, and that solitary reliance on the odd Christmas decoration, line or song is null and void without the themes or importance of yule within the story.
Christmas movies often possess the theme of family at their heart; here, it is abundant within Returns. We are shown what happens to character makeup when family is absent during the holidays. Penguin's arc revolves around him coming to terms with his parents' abandonment (which happened at Christmas during the opening prologue) and his years spent in the sewer as an exile, Selina Kyle is pestered and belittled by her mother over her phone’s answering machine and left by her lonesome for the holidays, and Bruce, come the end of the film, has a night off as Batman and surrounds himself with the only family he has in Alfred as they take a winter’s night drive together. But perhaps the most irrefutable piece of evidence that labels Returns as a Christmas movie is the mistletoe MacGuffin which triggers the romance between Batman and Catwoman, where their relationship is at the heart of the film. Both Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle are facades for their vigilante selves, who are products of a severe trauma both characters have in common. When both Batman and Catwoman find themselves under the mistletoe, they share a moment right before they kiss.
“Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it.” – Batman
“But a kiss can be even deadlier if you mean it.” – Catwoman
Later, both Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne find themselves at a masquerade party in the only costumes they know: themselves. Sharing a dance at the party, mistletoe reappears again, only both characters realise at this moment through the mistletoe who each of them truly is as their relationship now complexes itself. Their relationship is only possible through the use of the mistletoe, and the mistletoe would only be there if not for Christmas.
The alternate Christmas movie should be encouraged around this time of the year as an annual mix-up from the usual re-watches of the festive season. After all, one can only sit through Will Ferrel’s antics in New York as a six-foot elf so many times. Batman Returns subverts the traditional Christmas movie, providing an entertaining watch that provides the festive aura just as much as any Christmas movie should.
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